"Nihonshu" Now : Yamagata and the Sake Renaissance

Sake-making season in the city of Tendō. Yamagata’s cold, snowy winters can be brutal, but the low temperatures are conducive to the slow, carefully controlled fermentation that produces delicate-tasting sake with a smooth finish.

Introducing Yamagata’s impressive lineup of premium sakes is Koseki Toshihiko, a veteran sake technologist who played a key role in the private-public partnership that revitalized the Yamagata sake industry.

Nakano Masami, owner of Dewazakura Sake Brewery. The pioneering business was named Sake Brewer of the Decade at the 2016 International Wine Challenge.

Three generations of Yamagata sake men: from left to right, Nakano Masami of Dewazakura Brewing Company, senior sake technologist Koseki Toshihiko, and Gotō Takanobu of Gotō Kōtarō Shuzōten.

Sake technologist Ishigaki Hiroyoshi holds a sample of an original Yamagata yeast strain. The Yamagata Research Institute of Technology where he works has its own rice-milling and brewing equipment, as well as special temperature- and humidity-controlled rooms for culturing the kōji mold so critical to sake making. Ishigaki sometimes stays overnight to conduct brewing experiments.

The flagship products of Dewazakura Sake Brewing Co: Dewazakura Ōka, the hit ginjō-shu launched in 1980; Dewanosato junmai-shu, the 2013 IWC Champion Sake; and Ichiro junmai daiginjō-shu, the 2008 IWC Champion Sake.